Nunzio LaGrasso, Racketeering Conspiracy, New Jersey 2015

NEWARK, N.J. – A North Jersey man was sentenced to 28 months in prison for his role in the affairs of the Genovese organized crime family of La Cosa Nostra, including engaging in a pattern of racketeering activity by extorting Christmas-time tribute payments from members of the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA).

Nunzio LaGrasso, 64, of Florham Park, New Jersey, former vice president of ILA Local 1478 and ILA representative, previously pleaded guilty to Count One of the second superseding indictment, charging him with racketeering conspiracy. LaGrasso admitted to predicate acts involving conspiracy to commit extortion and multiple extortions.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court, since at least 2005, co-defendant Stephen Depiro, 59, of Kenilworth, New Jersey, has managed the Genovese family’s control over the New Jersey waterfront, including the nearly three-decades-long extortion of port workers in ILA Local 1, ILA Local 1235 and ILA Local 1478.

Members of the Genovese family, including Depiro, are charged with conspiring to collect tribute payments from New Jersey port workers at Christmastime each year through their corrupt influence over union officials, including the last three presidents of Local 1235 and vice president of ILA Local 1478.

During their guilty plea proceedings, LaGrasso, Depiro and co-defendant Albert Cernadas, 79, of Union, New Jersey, former president of ILA Local 1235 and former ILA executive vice president, admitted their involvement in the Genovese family, including conspiring to compel tribute payments from ILA union members, who made the payments based on actual and threatened force, violence and fear.

LaGrasso and Cernadas admitted to carrying out multiple extortions of dockworkers. The timing of the extortions typically coincided with the receipt by certain ILA members of “Container Royalty Fund” checks, a form of year-end compensation.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Cecchi sentenced LaGrasso to two years of supervised release and fined $25,000.

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